Grizzly 6" low-speed grinder (Shop Fox)

This item is currently on sale at Grizzly for $49.99 plus shipping, listed at about $110. It runs at 1725 rpm, and the motor is rated as 1/4 hp, totally enclosed and fan-cooled. It ran quite smoothly right out of the box. The left wheel is 3/4” wide, and coarse grit. The right wheel is 1 1/2” wide, and is white aluminum oxide medium grit. I did the rough grinding on several chisels with the wider wheel, and was very pleased. A number of my chisels and plane irons are in need of regrinding and more careful sharpening, and I think this is just what I need to speed up the process. I may replace the left wheel with a hard felt wheel for honing; the right wheel removes metal rapidly enough for my needs. I bought a better tool guide to go with it, but haven’t installed that yet. Obviously I can’t report on longevity at this time, but so far it seems like a very good deal.

I just got one of these a couple days ago. I replaced the narrow wheel with a Norton 3x wheel, which is supposed to cut faster and run cooler than the stock wheels. Despite the relatively low speed (1725 rpm) and the upgraded wheel, I think I may have blued one of my chisels. I guess I got a little overconfident. :( But I agree that this grinder is a good deal – it’s the least expensive slow grinder I could find.

I got the hard felt wheel, and honing compound, from Lee Valley. $29.80 for the felt wheel. Not cheap. I got the tool rest from Grizzly; it seems adequate, but I’ll probably swap my Veritas from the old grinder to the new. I got the Grizzly rest because it WASN’T slotted for the wheel, and the right wheel is pretty wide. And it had a tiny little miter gauge; I haven’t tried it out yet.

You know, grinders don’t change much in appearance over the years. I have an inexpensive 1/4 hp grinder purchased over 30 years ago from a catalog. It looks just like that one. Yours is probably better, but who knows. I suspect it will be the only grinder I will ever buy. It doesn’t get a lot of use, but it is indispensable for some things.

I put the felt wheel on today. I have been busy polishing the stains off of my one good plane, and honing the edges of several plane blades. VERY NICE! I just shaved a patch off my arm to test the skew plane blade. I feel like a kid with a brand-new Erector set. (I guess that reference dates me a bit.)

GRINDER: The felt wheel instructions noted that many grinders can rotate the guards, to make sure you don’t run the blade edge-first on the felt. The guard has three screws—and six holes, neatly aligned to permit 180 degree rotation of the guard. I keep finding things to like on this little grinder—

My wife came out to the shop as I way testing the edge—she thought I’d lost my mind. Again.